A lawsuit in Illinois claims that Target illegally collected personal data from its shoppers.
The legal documents suggest that each affected customer could receive as much as $5,000 in payments.
Target Accused of Mishandling Customer Data
A woman has launched a class action lawsuit against Target, alleging the store secretly kept customers' data without their permission.
Arnetta Deans, who lives in Illinois, claims Target broke Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act by storing this data.
Court filings include references to social media posts from people claiming to have worked at Target. These former employees allege that the company used surveillance systems to take pictures of customers without telling them.
A lawsuit filed on March 11 in a Cook County circuit court accuses Target of secretly using its surveillance systems to collect facial and fingerprint data from customers. This case, highlighted by Fox 32, a local news outlet, suggests that these practices were part of the store's anti-theft measures.
The lawsuit argues that this action breaches Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act, a law enacted in 2008 to prevent the unauthorized collection of personal physical details.
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Target Faces Allegations of Privacy Violations
According to the legal filing, Target allegedly does not inform customers that it will collect this biometric data before they enter the store or obtain their consent to gather such information.
To support their case, they pointed to various online sources, including numerous TikTok videos by people who say they are current or former Target employees. These videos describe how the company gathers data on people it suspects of shoplifting.
The lawsuit is spearheaded by a customer who, along with her lawyers, is demanding "$5,000 for every intentional and reckless violation" of Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA). They argue that any resident who has shopped at a Target store in Illinois could be eligible for compensation.
In addition to seeking $5,000 for each serious violation of Illinois' privacy law, lawyers in the lawsuit against Target have stated they would also accept $1,000 for any infractions made through negligence.
The legal action suggests thousands of Illinois shoppers could be eligible for these payments.
Furthermore, the suit requests that the case be decided in a jury trial.
Illinois Law Clamps Down on Biometric Data Misuse
Biometric information includes data like retina scans, fingerprints, and facial geometry. Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA) prohibits companies from using facial recognition to collect this data without consent and dictates how it must be stored and destroyed.
In 2022, Snapchat settled for $35 million over BIPA violations linked to its photo filters.
A new lawsuit accuses Target of equipping its stores with surveillance capable of collecting biometric data. Target has used an advanced surveillance system across its U.S. locations for over ten years, intended to identify shoplifters but allegedly capturing all customers' faces.
The lawsuit highlights numerous online testimonies from former employees about Target's facial recognition practices.
This case follows concerns aired on platforms like TikTok, where users debate the implications of such surveillance technologies.
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